Tue 27 Dec 2022
Reviewed by Tony Baer: RUDOLPH FISHER – The Conjure-Man Dies.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[7] Comments
RUDOLPH FISHER – The Conjure-Man Dies. Dr. John Archer & Sgt. Perry Dark #1 (*). Covici Friede, hardcover, 1932. Reprinted several times, including: Arno Press, hardcover, 1971, introduction by Stanley Ellin. University of Michigan Press, softcover, 1992; Poisoned Pen Press, softcover, 2022.
The first Black detective novel. It is set in Harlem, involving the murder of a soothsayer.
The author was a doctor who died by cancer aged 37. By proxy, he places a Dr. Archer, who lives across the street from the crime scene. Archer volunteers his scientific services to the aid of Detective Dart of the Harlem precinct. Local politicos made the recent choice to hire Black police officers, as better able to traverse Harlem’s cultural eccentricities.
An excellent introduction by Stanley Ellin points out the interesting combination here of Van Dine inspired scaffolding, scientific induction and overlong exposition with Hammett-like precision in dialogue.
What makes the book unique is its presentation of Harlem characters in their colorful vernacular of the times — a vernacular whose stark presentation may be inspired by Hammett but the content of which is entirely its own.
Enjoyable mystery and worth reading even were it not an important historical document.
(*) The pair of detectives also appeared in the novella “John Archer’s Nose,” which was collected in The City of Refuge: The Collected Stories of Rudolph Fisher (University of Missouri, 1987). This may have been its first appearance.
December 27th, 2022 at 9:20 pm
For more information about the book, the author, and the play that was adapted from it, go here:
https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2022/04/new-from-librarys-crime-classics-the-conjure-man-dies/
December 27th, 2022 at 11:01 pm
I need to look this one up.
December 28th, 2022 at 7:33 am
“John Archer’s Nose” (per the introduction to CITY OF REFUGE: THE COLLECTED STORIES OF RUDOLPH FISHER) first appeared in a magazine, THE METROPOLITAN, in 1935. This magazine had a short life and was not related to an earlier magazine of the same name. CITY OF REFUGE is available on archive.org:
https://archive.org/details/cityofrefuge00fish
December 28th, 2022 at 9:44 am
Thanks Bill! And this is the title reviewed here with intro by Ellin. https://archive.org/details/conjuremandies0000unse
December 28th, 2022 at 7:19 pm
Thanks to Bill I read “John Archer’s Nose” today. Features the same two stars: Detective Dart and Dr. Archer. Another murder, this time with a knife lodged in the victim’s chest. And again featuring a Conjurer–this time a Conjure-Woman. In the beginning the Doc and Detective are lamenting Harlemites’ predeliction for prefering voodoo for traditional medicine. It leads to unnecessary deaths by disease easily dispelled by Western medicine. But distrust for new-fangled ways leads folks to witchcraft, and frequently, too soon demise.
In the Conjure-Man Dies, Archer and Dart are introduced. In Archer’s Nose they are comfortable old-time friends, needling one another and enjoying each other bachelor’s company. If anything, I’d say the Archer’s Nose novella is tighter and smoother than the novel. And the intro says that Fisher was intending to write two sequels to the Conjure-Man. We can lament Fisher’s untimely death for eliminating. I liked the novella quite a bit.
December 28th, 2022 at 9:45 pm
Thanks to Bill Kelly from me also for coming up with such easy access to this second story. It sounds like a winner to me!
January 30th, 2023 at 2:24 pm
Terrific review of the novel here: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/elementary-dear-harlem-on-the-first-african-american-detective-novel/